There have been numerous types of pill dispensing closures. Most of which have been designed to deter small children from gaining access to potentially harmful products. Because of their designs a great many of these closures are difficult and frustrating to the elderly. In many cases when the person gets the lid off the child proof container, they are left off and are then easily knocked over or just because of the lack of individual's dexterity, a large number of pills are dumped out. There are no devices which allow the dispensing of a single pill of any size without complicated determinations of opening size. Maier, U.S. Pat. No. 2,630,245 discloses a capsule dispensing device which utilizes the capsules as roller bearings, however is limited to dispensing of capsules and requires a few capsules in the mechanism to work properly. Dobkin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,664,223 discloses a pellet dispenser which is designed so that contact with the dispensed product is avoided. Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,111 discloses a pill container and dispenser having multiple rotatable disks requiring the individual to move each dish to a designated number on the container to set the dispenser to dispense the proper size and number of pills. If the disks are inadvertently moved, too many pills may be dispensed or none at all. Either of which is frustrating to the individual trying to get the proper dosage. Uroschevich, U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,847 discloses a child resistent pill dispenser, however, it requires an individual with a reasonable amount of dexterity to operate. Neavin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,703 discloses a device which necessitates movement of a handle by a 180.degree. and agitating the pills at the same time. The device is not useful for dispensing any pills except those of uniform size. Kramer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,293 has similar disadvantages as the other child proof dispensing devices already discussed. Frank, U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,434 has similar limitations as Kramer above. Other such as Graff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,727 and Sacchetti, U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,057 are complicated and do not provide the ease of use and simplicity of the within invention.
Nilson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,851, Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,908 and Veltri, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,694 are complex dispensing devices and no not allow the dispensing of a choice of sized product. The devices are also difficult for the elderly to use.
LaChance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,141,461 is difficult for the elderly to use as it requires the individual to lift and disengage the lock mechanism before a pill can be dispensed.
Spices and the like loose a substantial amount of their aromatics when they are exposed to the air. Most of the spice dispensers require that the lid be removed to dispense the spice allowing the spice to be continually exposed to the air with each use. The present invention eliminates this problem as once the lid is installed, the dispensing of each portion permits only a negligible amount of air to contact the spice as it is dispensed: The dispenser provides the same portion each time without the difficulty of measuring, although many of the elderly enjoy cooking because of the lack of dexterity they have difficulty measuring small quantities of spices without spilling them. The within dispenser eliminates this problem by measuring out the same quantity of spice each time.
The within invention provides a dispenser for spices which eliminates the necessity of removal of the lid and exposure to the air.